Posts Tagged ‘Funimation’

Origins Game Fair returns this Wednesday June 14th to Sunday June 18th at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. Origins is the longest-running and largest convention for people who enjoy games. There is so much to do over the five days that I could go on for pages, but I am of course just going to focus on anime and Japanese related events and games.

The Anime Track is being ran by Wasabi Anime again this year. They will be running events from Thursday to Sunday. They will be showing Anime Music Videos ever day, a manga library, and a viewing room sponsored by Viz, Funimation, and AnimEigo. Though I will say last year the library was a big disappoint me quality and selection. Let’s hope for more this year. Panels for this year cover such topics as Voltron, Yu Yu Hakusho, Transformers, tea, a Cowboy Bebop listening party, Anime Name That Tune, and many more.

They will also be running sessions of various anime related games for free; Mangaka, Ryuutama, Golden Sky Stories, Maid RPG, and Tanto Coure. All the other games at the con will cost at least $2, most will cost even more.

For Collectable Games, both Konami and Pokémon running many sessions of their games. Demo games to learn Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokémon, tournaments of various styles and levels, and plenty of pick-up games. Also games and tournaments for Dice Masters, which had a Yu-Gi-Oh set.

For Role Playing Games there are a few that are of interest to this blog including some sessions of Kuro and sessions of Advanced Dimensional Green Ninja-Educational Preparatory Super-Elementary Fortress 555 (ADGNEPSEF555) where you play in an anime-themed cross-dimensional grade school. It is very weird.

There will be some Pokémon LARP sessions using DSes and a LARP for the ADGNEPSEF universe.

For Miniatures Games, you will have four chances to play a Starblazers game and learn Infinity a new manga inspired game. Heroclix will have some tournaments to play in, they also had a Yu-Gi-Oh expansion set.

If you are interested in board games, they have you covered there too. Cool Mini or Not will be running games and tournaments of Arcadia Quest and Masmorra Dungeons of Arcadia. Japanime Games will be doing learn to plays and tournaments of Tanto Cuore (various sets) and Heart of Crown. The games available to try are Pokemon Master Trainer, Resident Evil Deck Building Game, Hatsune Miku (a new co-op game), Cowboy Bebop: The Board Game, Era of the Ninja, Super Dungeon Explore, and more.

Plus do not forget all the dealers that will be there with many of the above games and others.

Origins is a great convention to go to, but it does take a bit of money to go and survive. But it is worth it.

Panini America unveiled the next transformation of the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game at Comic-Con International. Revealing a few card images at their booth, including some with scenes from the new “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods” movie, this new release uses the same rules system developed by veteran game designer Jim Ward and first released by Score Entertainment in 2000. It is somewhat fitting that a series known for its prolonged and exaggerated “powering up” sequences would have its next installment arrive over ten years after the last expansion for the game was released in 2003.

In a story that’s become pleasantly more common in recent years, the game was not revived by gathering the seven Dragon Balls but rather by a group of dedicated fans through their efforts on social media. Most prominent among them was JustSaiyan.com, headed by Score Entertainment alums Garrett Wilkinson and Joshua Morris. What started as a simple website with only card images from the original game, soon exploded into a full blown community with regular content being posted and an event circuit being established so players could meet and play games in person around North America and even Australia.

“We didn’t have any money to put into advertising, but we kept coming up with fresh content and encouraged the community to submit their own,” said Morris, the social media manager for JustSaiyan.com and former manager at FUNimation Entertainment. “This kept folks coming back daily, and we watched as our numbers grew and our events started attracting more attendees than some for games that were still in print and even had a marketing budget.”

It wasn’t long before existing product for the game started to become scarcer. Prices for cards on the secondary market skyrocketed and some fans even began taking their own Dragon Ball Z fan art to the next level by adding game text and using their own unique creations in games. Soon organizations like Panini America and FUNimation Entertainment took notice to the success that Wilkinson and Morris had achieved with an old game, an even older license and no budget. The result was another lease on life for the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game.

The new Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game is releasing this fall and will have over 150 cards available in both starter decks and 12-card booster packs. The playable characters revealed so far are Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, Piccolo and Frieza. For more information and up to date news on the game both classic and new, check out their website.

About JustSaiyan.com: Also known as RetroDBZ and the “Gaming Community with Balls,” JustSaiyan.com is focused mainly on Dragon Ball and other anime based games. Founders Garrett Wilkinson and Joshua Morris are veterans of both the games and anime industries and have worked with many entertainment companies and conventions over their careers.